Let me slip into something UNcomfortable

I'm currently sitting in my apartment hallway, because it is hot in my room. I fixed the A/C like a Queen and am now waiting for my apartment to cool down to a nice 70 degrees.

I started a business with It Works Global, because the way God speaks to me is by telling me something months in advanced and letting me think about it until I'm ready to do what He asks. This was an answer to my prayers and something that would help me reach my financial goals and also to motivate me to treat my body better. Two women who had followed me on Instagram were part of this company. I've been watching their business grow. One is a married  BYU student and the other is a retired, 20-something year old with a family. Both were kind, motivating, and incredibly successful. The only part that scared me about this business was putting myself out there and selling. I am not a sales person. I don't do that. So after much prodding, I took the plunge.

And I became stagnant. Anxiety and fear really hit me. But I knew that if I followed everything that Christy told me to do, I would be successful. But still. I was scared. Scared of failure. Scared of rejection. Scared! So I got the kit and opened it, but then put the contents back into the box and it's sitting on my desk with some books and papers on top of it.

While paroozing my way on Instagram, a friend of mine posted these very words:

Nice, Heavenly Father. Way to put that out there. So I resisted again. Then this:

Yeah, but then I'm saving myself from feeling anxiety and uncomfortable. A few days later, I read these words that really hit me hard:

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." M. Scott Peck 

Okay, Okay, I'm listening. I realized that I was making things so complicated and I was overthinking everything! I just needed to simplify it and bring out the beauty in it. So I started up with my positive affirmations again:

I am a Daughter of God.

I am Beautiful.

I am doing hard things.

I am successful!

 God only will I serve.

I am attracting like minded people.

I am financially abundant.

I am making my dreams come true.

I radiate the Light of Christ.

I am making a difference in the world.

I felt my Spirit come alive once again. I promised God that I would try again and give it all I've got. I promised to always put Him first and then go to work. Even though this is very uncomfortable for me, I know that I have two choices. I can grow. Or I can be stagnant. We all know how I feel about the power of change, so I've re-committed myself to God, to myself, and to this company. I will bask in the uncomfortable-ness that comes and I will let it refine me. I can do hard things. I am successful.

Here's to new adventures. You can visit my Instagram @simplymarlisa for my lifestyle and "work" posts. I'll be sharing with you my journey and bringing the simplicity and beauty in the products, but how it is influencing both my life and those I get to work with. (I still have my regular Insta @missmarlirock so feel free to go there if you're not interested!)

Here we go, darlings! It's not the worst.

***If you're interested in any products or whatever, just DM, text, email, FB message me. We can embark on this journey together! You can be skeptical, but at the very least, you should just try it!***

Hit or Miss

...or curious. My creativity through cooking comes out when I'm trying to use up the food that I have. I don't want to go shopping, because I'm lazy and I hate it. I ate a fried egg with pimento olives and cheese mixed in it. I topped that with some cilantro-avocado dressing. It wasn't the worst. I ate every bite. And then I had the same thing for breakfast the next day.

For lunch today, I thought it would be great to use my frozen cauliflower. I bought them, because I had read that you can substitute chicken with cauliflower. So I went to work and made this beautiful lemon chili pepper flour coating and poured it over the cauliflower. Then I baked it. And I baked it. And it baked. But it wasn't looking the way I wanted it to. So I threw it in the oven again and wracked my brain as to why it wasn't working. Then it hit me. I was supposed to fry the cauliflower. So I took it out of the oven fried it up and still looked terrible. And the taste, you ask? It wasn't the worst. And usually I will tolerate that, but not today. I threw it away in the trash and made chocolate chip pancakes.

It's a hit or miss with me. I am usually pretty good at cooking. I have limited ingredients, so maybe I need to just suck it up and go grocery shopping this week. It's not the worst. Happy Tuesday and I hope your food tastes better than mine.

P.S. You've been asking for recipes on food that I've posted on Instagram and those recipes are coming!

Library Card

My library card is one of the few things that I own that is the most valuable to me. I am an avid reader. I read everything and anything. You can ask my roommates how many library books are sitting on my desk right now. If I'm not mistaken, there should be around 18 books. I struggle going to the library and not leaving empty handed. Cannot do it, cannot do it.

 I think it's important to educate yourself outside of school. I believe reading is the quickest way to having a basic knowledge of something. And if you come across something you really enjoy, you can study further on the subject. I'm currently reading about accounting, quick books, and English Monarchy. It's quite fascinating.

Reading should be fun. I currently have 3 Nancy Drew books checked out. No shame here, friends! I walk in the children's section like the adult that I am and roam the bookshelves. It was children's books that go me into reading in the first place anyways.

Have any of you guys used a Kindle? I have the kindle app, but I don't use it that often. What are your reading  choices? Leave a comment below or email me. Happy Wednesday! We're halfway through the week!

Where have I been? I feel like I've been a let down to this poor blog of mine. I've been through some crazy excitements during this roller-coaster life of mine.That however hasn't stopped me from writing. I've written several posts during my absence and will be up and running! I've learned so much in the past few months and have any thoughts to share with you. But for now, I must update you. I moved. Said goodbye to old friends and am ready to say hello to new friends. Things have changed. The Lord is taking me on this crazy adventure or rather He is realigning me to where He wants me to be. I guess that's okay. My faith in Him has increased immensely. It's been a long road, but a great one nonetheless! Here's to 2015 and all that lies in store for me.

Let's begin anew.

Here we go! Another year and I'm ready for the adventures that lie ahead. Though things haven't played well in my favor, I'm still holding true to my faith in the Lord. I know that things haven't been working out, because the Lord has something better for me. I'm ready for this year! Bring it on 2015!

Preparing

With the new year coming, I've been prepping for my 2015 goals. I'm ready to get back into the saddle. I've slowly been putting my life back together. Now that I feel like I'm mentally and emotionally stable, I can now start working on other areas of my life.

If you follow me on Pinterest, then you've probably seen my "2015 Goals" board. I've been pinning all sorts of things from clean eating and work outs to organization. I've put the final touches to my goal plans and am ready to carry them out. Let's take a sneak peek:

Physically: It's not about how many pounds and inches I lose. I can't look at it that way. I feel like if I set a certain amount of weight to lose, then I just get discouraged. I'm fortunate enough to have a mother who loves health! She's been a wonderful example to me. Even then, I still had to know for myself the 'why'. I have been doing an extensive research this past month to learn about why eating clean is necessary and why daily exercise is important. You bet I've been watching all sorts of YouTube videos and reading health articles and blogs. I've done my research and have carefully put together my goals. Running will be a bittersweet beginning, but I love to run, so it shouldn't be too bad. And vegetables? I actually love vegetables, I just need to eat them more. But thanks to the recipes I've collected, I'm actually ready to eat clean. I'm looking forward to detoxing.

Mentally: My mom (who is a health fanatic) sent me an email about meditation. Meditation can actually change your brain and enhance your overall well-being. (Read the article here.) I'll also be continuing my relaxation techniques. I don't know about you, but my mind is constantly running and it takes me a long time to fall asleep. I came across a relaxation app that I love and have been using it every night before bed. It soothes and calms my mind, so that I am able to fall asleep. It's been wonderful!

Emotionally: I have been seeing a counselor for about a month and she is absolutely amazing! I always thought that counselling was good, but just wasn't for me. I've done counselling before, but it wasn't working for me. I'm 24 and finally decided for myself that I needed a counselor to talk about my problems. My counselor was not only kind, but has helped me overcome some of my weaknesses. By doing this, I've been able to take more control over my emotions and to deal with them in a positive way, rather than bottling them up. (I'm not saying that counselling is for everyone. However if you feel like you could use some professional help, counselling may be a good option.)

Spiritually: I really want to continue on coming to know my Savior. I've been re-building my foundation on Him. I need Him more than anything right now. I'll be going back to the basics. You know, reading my scriptures (especially The Book of Mormon), praying etc. I've however decided to do the Young Women's Personal Progress program. I received my Young Womanhood Recognition about 9 years ago, but for some reason, I felt impressed to do it again. I'm kind of really excited!

That was a lot. I assure you my goals are few and simple. I think the simpler the goal, the easier it will be to accomplish it! Do you have your goals for the new year? I want to hear about them! Perhaps we could swap ideas, tips, and tricks. Also, do you have Instagram? You can find me as missmarlirock. I post quite regularly there. You get to see a smidgen of my life there. :) Let's do this!